Midland Police Hunt for Store Robbers

By: Sarah SnyderNewsWest 9

MIDLAND - As NewsWest 9 has reported a slew of robberies over the past few days, some even causing injuries to the employees trying to protect the stores. Now Midland Police are closing in on the crooks.

"Over a years time, it's common to have 4-5 of them like that. It's just odd that two happened on the same weekend," Sgt. Jim Crouse with the Midland Police Department, said. "That's odd in and of itself."

The first robbery happened last Friday. Two men and two women worked together to distract employees, while one of them ran out with the most expensive electronic equipment they could carry.

The suspects hit the Best Buy on Loop 250 in Midland in broad daylight on Friday afternoon. Investigators tell NewsWest 9, they assaulted the loss prevention officer on their way out the door, but they weren't finished yet. A little while later and down the street, the group hit Kohl's. But this time, they got a little braver. Police say they pulled a knife on the officer trying to stop them.

And over the weekend it happened again. A Hispanic man hit the Kohl's department store in a cluster of robberies and thefts that Midland Police say is either economy or drug related.

"The stores are starting to put the good high quality cameras in, that's what made the correlation between the Best Buy and Kohl's was good security cameras at Kohl's," Sgt. Crouse said. "That's how we figured that out."

The loss prevention officer only had minor injuries. Midland Police have already interviewed several suspects and are drafting arrest warrants. They want to remind West Texans, if you see a robbery going on don't try to apprehend them, just focus on getting a suspect and vehicle description.